Friday, October 16, 2015

Finding Some Hope

When I cried
out it was a cry of surprise not pain or fear. Still, my husband wasn’t taking
any chances. Without missing a beat he grabbed the man who’d rammed into me by
his shirt front and threw him up against the bus stop. We were some twenty
meters from Dung Gate, near the entrance to the Kotel.

“I asked you
to move,” the stranger complained in a rather defiant tone of voice.

It was then
we saw he was wearing the uniform of a security guard. Obviously late for his
seven am shift, he’d called out “Excuse me!”. But I hadn’t realized he was yelling at me and
didn’t move out of his way. My husband let him go but didn’t apologize. There
had been a stabbing near Tel Aviv the night before and he was suspicious of any
strange movements.

Although
that all happened over a year ago it was very much in my mind as we made our
way to the Kotel this week. Instead of leaving my mace spray buried in my purse
I set it in my pocket with my hand on top of it. I kept my eyes roving in back of
me, in front, and to the sides. Thankfully, I reached the Kotel without any
excitement. How I needed some time to pour out my heart to HaShem. To beg for
an end to the terror. To plead for full recoveries for the injured. To keep us
all safe.

After a
strong, intense period of prayer I left the Kotel and once again was attuned to
any movement around me. I boarded an Egged bus and kept my eyes wide open. Like
before I thankfully reached my destination without any alarms.

It’s
distressing for me that I’ve lost track of the amount of terror attacks that
have occurred since I was in The Holy City the beginning of the week. I’m mortified
that I can’t remember the names of all the wounded and murdered. Also upsetting
to me was the opportunist politician’s statement that this was all the fault of
the prime minister. What happened to unity in times of trouble?

Before I
could get too upset though, another politician also from the opposition spoke up and
announced he was cancelling his bid for a no-confidence motion in the
government. Like me, he knows this is a time for us to stick together. Another positive
note was when various groups cancelled their planned demonstrations, not wanting
to take precious security personnel away from protecting all of us.

And Wednesday
evening following the attack at the Jerusalem Bus Station there was a spontaneous
showing of brotherhood. Young and old, religious and secular, Jerusalem
residents and commuters joined together singing the Israeli national anthem, HaTikva,
The Hope. Their singing gave me hope. As long as we can remember we’re one
people we will never be defeated by the Arab terror.

Despite knowing
this, it’s somewhat scary to think about going back to the Kotel next week. But
I am not willing to let the Arab terrorists take my Jerusalem day away from me. So I plan to go back armed with my mace,
maybe a rolling pin, lots of prayers, and hope.

Jerusalem Bus station courtesy of www.jerusalem-insiders-guide.com

Note: Not everybody has the privilege to decide if they want to ride buses or brave city streets or not. Most Israelis must do these things in order to get to and from their jobs.

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Aim of Blog

Emunah, faith in God, does not mean believing only good things will happen; it means believing that whatever God does is for the best. I wrote these words at a time when drive-by shootings and suicide bombers had become almost weekly, if not daily, tragedies. Now, more than ten years later, the words are no less true. Whatever HaShem does is for the best. It is my hope to post articles, advice, and homey stories everyweekwhich will reinforce this fact. And now, a special thanks to:

Batya Medad, my neighbor and experienced blogger. Without her I would never have been able to set up

About Me

Born in Wichita, Kansas, I became a Baalat Teshuva, newly religious, in Phoenix, Arizona while attending ASU. After twelve years of marriage my husband and I made Aliyah with five children and settled in Shilo in the heart of Israel. Two more children joined the family as have daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, Baruch HaShem. My favorite past times are learning, sewing, hiking, reading, cooking, baking, enjoying my family and friends, and, of course, writing. My first novel, Sondra’s Search, was published in 2007 and I am working on the sequel.